Where were you
by Taateli
Summary: The Doctor gets an odd recording to Tardis which leads him, Amy and Rory to search for his ex-companion. Spoiler from all series.
1. Shame

**I'm a bit embarrassed to publish another story now when I haven't even finished the first one that I started. But I promise to all of the readers that I will write this through and I will even upload one chapter per day if I have time to do that! And sorry if there are grammar mistakes, English is not my native language and I have no beta. Long story short: enjoy the story! SPOILERS from all the series!  
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"Here we are!" Yelped the Doctor as the Tardis made its stop abruptly. "Cardiff, year 2011."

"You said we were going to somewhere exiting." Amy said, not even trying to hide the disappointment from her voice.

"But this is! Did you know that a rift of time and space runs through Cardiff?" Doctor asked but didn't even wait for Amy's reply. "Of course you didn't. No one ever does."

"And what is a rift of time and space exactly?" Rory asked this time, secretly glad to be back at Earth after so long.

"It's a…" Doctor would've explained gladly about the rift, but a low rustle from the Tardis's monitor caught his attention.

"What's going on?" Amy asked as she and Rory came behind Doctor to watch the video that had started playing on the screen and revealed woman's face. "Who is she?"

_"__There is one thing I always wanted to ask Jack…" _The dark haired woman said. They couldn't see her face properly because of the bad lighting on the video.

_"…__Back in the old days."_ The woman continued._ "I wanted to know about that Doctor of his." _

Both Amy and Rory turned to look at Doctor, who didn't even notice. He just stared at the screen with intense look.

_"__The man who appears out of nowhere, saves the world; expect sometimes he doesn't. All those times in history, where there was no sign of him. I wanted to know why not... But I don't need to ask anymore. I know the answer now: sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame." _

There was a pause.

_"__I'm recording this in case anyone ever finds it. So you can see… you can see how the world ended."_

Then the screen went black. For a while they all just stared at it as if she would appear on it again at any time.

"What was that all about?" Amy finally asked and turned to look at the Doctor. "She was talking about you and who is this Jack she mentioned?"

"She's Gwen Cooper… Torchwood. But why is her video here and what is she talking about?" The Doctor pushed some buttons, trying to get the recording back but didn't succeed.

"Torchwood?" Rory asked this time.

"Yes, it was originally established to defend the Earth from me, but when my ex-companion started to rule it, it became an institution which protects the Earth from aliens." Doctor explained as he ran to the other side of the Tardis's control panel.

"Protect the Earth from you? Are you kidding me?" Amy laughed as she tried to make sense of it all. "But that still doesn't explain why she sent this video to you."

"She didn't send it. Somehow the Tardis kind of downloaded it from somewhere. It must have something to do with the rift."

"What was she talking about world ending?" Rory felt a child down his spine.

Doctor kept pushing more buttons and then stopped.

"Good question, Rory. Because that video has been recorded over a year ago and the world is still okay. But why did the Tardis showed it to me then?"

He started to paced back and worth, a frown on his face.

"Over a year ago…?" Amy searched her memory for a while.

"Wasn't that the time when all the children stopped?" Rory remembered.

Both Amy and the Doctor looked at him and nodded in unison.

"That's it! The 456 incident!" The doctor returned between Amy and Rory to use the monitor again. "The video was recorded exactly 10th of July 2010. But why did she say that I should be ashamed of the human race? That was the most heroic day for them! All those people turning against the alien threat together!"

The Doctor talked in such nostalgia, that he didn't notice a look that Rory and Amy shared with each other.

"Because of that day, I am _the_ most proud of the brave and oh, so loving, human race. Protecting their children even if it costs their own extinction…" He would've rambled on but Amy interrupted him.

"What are you talking about? That was one of the scariest days I have ever lived through."

"What? Why?" The Doctor turned to look at her with confusion written on his face.

"I still remember walking by my local school when dozens of yellow busses drove to the yard and armed men started to pack the students inside. A mother of some children was screaming and crying outside as her children were taken." Amy couldn't possibly understand Doctor's vision of the most heroic day of the world because that had been a nightmare and full of confusion.

"NO! No, no, no, no!" Doctor suddenly yelled and started to tap Tardis's controls again. "That doesn't sound good… not good at all. But how…"

When he found a news article about that day, he stopped.

"Oh no…" Doctor exhaled slowly as he kept on reading.

"What?" Rory asked. "What is it?"

"I need to find him." Doctor stated as he started to prepare the Tardis for a travel.

"Who?" Amy took hold of the railing as the Tardis started to waver.

"Just hold on tight!" Doctor yelled as they were off again.

The Tardis materialized in the middle of a machine room. The Doctor jumped out and was soon followed by Amy and Rory.

"Where are we?" Amy asked, coughing when the smoke entered her airways. She was frustrated for asking questions all the time, but she hated being in the dark.

"Ah, lady and gentleman, welcome to the universes largest crusader ships in the whole wide galaxy… so far." Doctor turned around and opened his arms to present the dim lighted and not very beautiful machine room to them.

"Well, this engine room certainly is big… I can't even see where it ends." Rory scanned their surrounding and could only see smoke and lots of weird looking and extremely large equipment's.

"Yes, like I said, largest. Now, follow me! The universe is in danger." Doctor called out and hurried forward towards an exit, wherever it was.

"Thank you for notifying us about that little detail." Amy groaned as she and Rory followed him.

It took them way too long to find a way to the passenger's residences. But when they did, they headed straight to its noisiest place: the bar.

"A bit unusual place to go with you." Amy smiled as she watched the Doctor, surrounded by drunken people… and aliens, mostly aliens.

"Look at all these creatures. I've never seen so many aliens at one place." Rory whispered to Amy's ear as they tried to push through the crowd.

The Doctor scanned the area for a familiar face but in vain. Last time he had seen him, was on the bar but no such luck tonight. Then he recognized a man who walked right pass him with two glasses of hyper vodka on his hands.

"Alonso! Just the man I needed! Or no… let's say the second best man I needed." Doctor said as he grabbed the man by his arm.

Alonso turned to look at him with a shy smile.

"Oh, sorry, but I'm kind of busy right now. How do you know my name?" He said and tried to yank his arm free.

"What? Oh, sorry, you don't recognize me, regeneration and all that." Doctor babbled and as the man still looked confused, he decided to introduce himself: "It's me! The Doctor!"

"Doctor? But how…"

"New face, long story. Remind me to tell you about it sometime, but right now I'm a bit busy myself. Where's Jack?" Doctor scanned the crowd at the same time he was speaking but couldn't find his old companion among them.

"Jack? Oh, you mean that guy you introduced me to? Said he was an easy catch?" Alonso looked a little betrayed.

"Yeah, exactly! Now where is he?"

"No idea. We talked hours before he seemed to get sick and left. Said something about seasickness, whatever that means. If you want my opinion, he was making an excuse to get rid of me." Alonso sighed but soon his eyes caught a man who was waving at him from across the bar. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I got to go."

"Oh, okay. Maybe I'll find Jack somewhere else. It was good to see you Alonso!" Doctor patted him to the shoulder and started to push his way back to the exit. He met Amy and Rory half way there, staring at an alien who looked like a mixture of a hedgehog and four headed human. "Come on! No time to waste. We need to find Jack. Let's ask people if they have seen a man with a military greatcoat."

"Right." The couple said before going on different ways.

After ten minutes they all met at the same location.

"That guy told me he saw him walking upstairs." Amy informed.

"Yeah, same here." Rory nodded.

"Let's go then. He isn't too hard to spot I think."

When they went up the stairs and both Amy and Rory gasped in wonder. They had stepped on which seemed like a deck of the ship. There was only a sky of stars above them.

"That's beautiful. But how can we breathe?" Amy asked as she stared up.

"There's a very tiny slide of pressure-proof glass between us and the space, so we can breathe just fine. You can't see it. It's just been invented by the universes wackiest scientist of all time. I met him once and I've meant to take the next person who calls _me_ weird to meet him." Doctor explained. "So can you see him?"

"What? The scientist?" Amy asked, still fascinated about the stars. Every now and then she could see a shooting star speed above them.

"No. Jack. Remember: greatcoat, tall, dark haired man." Doctor said and walked around. The deck wasn't even nearly as crowded as the bar had been but he still couldn't see Jack.

"Is that him?" Rory soon asked and pointed to a man who was leaning against the invisible glass. There were no realign between the deck's edge and the space and it seemed like he was going to fall down at any moment.

"Captain Jack Harkness!" The Doctor shouted as they were only meter away from the man.

Jack straightened himself but didn't turn around until Doctor had called his name twice.

"Yes?" He then asked as he moved to look at them. His eyes were puffed and red rimmed which he probably had tried to hide before turning around. Doctor felt an odd feeling in his guts. He couldn't remember Jack looking so sad and… defeated the last time he had seen him. Although he had been quite overwhelmed of emotions himself around that time.

"It's me! Doctor!"

Jack frowned. "What? But we just met… I knew you were regenerating soon but I didn't think you would come and see me right away."

"No, it's been a bit longer for me. But I needed to find you and this is the only place I knew you would be. Oh, I'd like to introduce you to Amy and Rory. They are travelling with me."

Jack gazed at them wearily, soon noticing engagement rings on both of their fingers.

"I didn't know you… do couples." Jack smiled wryly at Doctor.

"I don't… I mean I took only Amy at first but Rory just happened to… get along."

Rory huffed to him but didn't say a word.

"Right… So what do you need from me?"

"Let's get boarded on Tardis."

Jack felt a wave of nostalgia when he stepped inside the Tardis, but at the same time he felt tired and sad. Once upon a time he would've done everything to get on board and travel with the Doctor again but not anymore. The only one that would make him feel joy these days was long gone.

"Gwen never told me anything about a video." Jack said after the Doctor had told him about it.

"No? That's not good. What happened?" Doctor asked, knowing that Jack would understand what he meant.

Jack felt an uncomfortable twist in his guts. He turned to look at the Doctor.

"Where were you?" He then asked, voice blank, but his face begged for the Doctor to explain. He wished that he would have a good explanation of what the Doctor was doing while Jack's world fell apart in a few short days.

Doctor was taken aback by the question. He thought Jack knew the answer but something told him he didn't want to hear what he was going to say: "I'm sorry, Jack."

"That's not good enough." Jack whispered, shaking his head.

"But I am."

"Where _were_ you Doctor?" Jack asked again, almost shouting this time.

Amy and Rory glanced at each other. They didn't know this man and weren't sure what he was capable of doing.

"Jack, there was nothing I could do. It was meant to happen." Doctor saw now that Jack was only half the man he used to be. There were no smiles, no flirting, nothing. Jack looked broken and Doctor knew that feeling.

"They threatened to take ten percent of the children… It was hell." Jack felt like suffocating, he needed to get out. "I got to go."

He stormed towards the exit but Doctor stepped in his way.

"Jack, please. I need your help. It was meant to happen but I think something went wrong and now the Earth's whole evolution is in danger."

"Wrong?" Jack laughed bitterly.

Amy felt a chill go down her spine.

"Couldn't you just call Martha and ask her what went wrong, because I'd say everything." Jack tried to push through Doctor again but the time lord put a hand on his chest.

"Just tell me… please."

Jack stared at the Doctor, only now really noticing him. The man's hair was even more out of place than before and his fashion sense was getting worse. Ianto would've hated that bowtie. Jack felt the familiar lump in his throat when he thought about the Welshman.

"Okay." He finally said, knowing that Ianto would've wanted him to help the Doctor even though Jack himself didn't feel any desire to keep the human race's evolution in time.

"Brilliant!" The Doctor shouted and waved for Amy and Rory to come closer as if to listen for a good night's story.

Jack started to tell about the twelve children back at the 1965, then the Hub's explosion, government trying to hunt them down, moving to London, discovering what the 456 wanted and Lois recording with the contact lenses but he didn't have the change to continue when Doctor interrupted him:

"Aha! So you sent the footage of that conversation to the world!"

"No." Jack corrected. "We meant to but in the end we didn't go through with it."

Doctor's face fell. "But why? All the parents in the whole wide world would've fought to keep their children. That's exactly what was supposed to happen."

"We were defeated Doctor. The 456 showed us how the virus worked. Me and… Ianto." Jack paused, trying to control his feeling after saying his name aloud. "We went to the Thames House, to threaten the 456. We said we would fight against it, but it released the virus to the building and everyone inside died."

"Yes I remember! The Thames House incident was supposed to happen but you still should've sent the footage, keep on fighting."

"He died, Doctor!" Jack looked him straight in the eye. "Ianto died inside and there was nothing I could do. The virus spread so quickly and… I couldn't get him out."

"Ianto…" Doctor mulled the name aloud, it sounded so familiar.

"You don't remember him, do you?" Jack was hurt but he also knew that Ianto wanted to stay in the shadows and had only presented himself to the Doctor quickly when he had something important to say.

"Oh! Ianto Jones!" Doctor yelled when he remembered the man. "He was part of that team of yours, right?"

"Yeah." Jack simply stated.

Doctor was surprised. Martha had called him during and after the events and she had mentioned that Jack had lost a member of his team. She had sounded shocked herself but he hadn't known that it might have affected the whole chain of effects.

"So something went wrong that day. He wasn't meant to go inside the Thames House." Doctor said and started to pace around.

Jack stared at him. Was he hearing right? Jack feared to ask the question but he had to before his hopes would rise just to be shot down again.

"Doctor." Jack said, stopping the time lord. "Are you… are you saying that we should stop Ianto from going to the Thames House?"

"Yes, exactly! I'm just wondering why he went there in the first place if he wasn't meant to." Doctor continued his walking.

Jack felt tears rise to his eyes and a twinge of hope in his chest.

"Let's do it then!" He stepped closer to the Doctor and the Tardis hummed as if for agreement.

"Yes, yes, but we need to go through that day very precisely. Try to remember Jack. When you went to the Thames House, was there any time when you and Ianto were separated so we could delay him without you seeing us?"

Jack had gone through those days in his mind a million times over. He remembered every word that was said and every glance that they shared so it didn't take him long to realize that during their road to their doom, they hadn't been separated at any point.

"No… we drove almost the whole way there but when the traffic stopped us, we had to walk couple of blocks. But he was right there behind me, for the whole way." Jack felt disappointed.

"That would make it a little trickier then, but I suppose we could still make some havoc so Ianto would have to stay behind."

They went through the plan for many times. Jack showed Doctor the road they took to the Thames House and at which points Ianto talked to his phone. He didn't want them to interrupt his call to his sister so she wouldn't send her children to the school.

They had almost invented a solid plan to keep Ianto away from the Thames House when Jack realized something and his heart sank.

"No." He whispered. "It's not going to work."

"What? Did we miss something?" Amy asked.

"Yes: me. I would've never gone inside the Thames House without Ianto." Jack hated himself for saying that. He wanted nothing more to get in to the past and keep Ianto in safety but he knew the truth.

"Why wouldn't you? You had a plan." Doctor looked baffled.

"Yes, I know. But it was for granted that Ianto went with me and not Gwen. I needed his support and I couldn't have gone in there and demand to go to a war with the 456 without him." Jack's voice shook as he spoke.

"But it must be you to go in there and declare war. No one else could've done that. That must mean that Ianto Jones must've gone inside the Thames House." Doctor started to pace around again.

"What if we just stop us from going in and I go there myself." Jack suggested. He wouldn't mind of dying again if he only could save Ianto.

"No, we have to intervene as little as possible." The Doctor just shook his head. "It's fixed, Jack."

"So Ianto must die?" Jack felt his hope grumble again.

"I'm afraid so." Doctor whispered, not even daring to look Jack in the eye, knowing that the man must be heartbroken.

"I'm sorry." Amy whispered to Jack. She felt sorry for him; this Ianto must've been very dear to him.

Jack just shook his head. He wanted to scream and break something. Was it really so that he wouldn't have gone through with the plan if Ianto had been unable to follow him?

"How long were you together?" Doctor suddenly asked.

Jack frowned at him. Doctor went to the control panel and tried to look busy by examining Tardis's monitor. Jack wondered that he wasn't really watching it.

"It was… complicated." Jack answered after a long pause. He hated to describe his and Ianto's relationship with that word but he couldn't say an exact date when they had started to be together.

"Approximately." Doctor said and looked very uncomfortable.

"About two and a half year." Jack said carefully and examined Doctor's reaction. "Why?"

"Just… asking." Doctor said quickly. "If I've understood right you have the ability to give away your life-energy to other people?"

"Sometimes, yes." Jack answered and his thoughts wondered to the time when he had kissed some of his life-energy to Ianto when Lisa had nearly killed him.

"Did you try to do it here?" Doctor asked and turned the monitor towards Jack, Amy and Rory.

Jack froze when he saw the footage on the monitor. It was the recording from the Thames House at the time when he and Ianto had died. It was playing the part when Jack had taken Ianto by his shoulders and stared at his face with terrified expression.

_"__There's got to be an antidote. There's got to be something!" Jack said with panic._

_"__It's too late." Ianto answered. "I breathed the air." _

_"__Then I take it all back. I take it all back, but not him!" _

Jack couldn't take his eyes off the screen even if he wanted to. There was his Ianto, still alive, but soon he collapsed to his arms. The footage went on but Jack couldn't see it anymore. Tears clouded his vision and he only heard their muffled conversation: Ianto's love confession and his _Don't_. He wanted to tell the Doctor to stop it but the lump in his throat had grown too big and no sound came out. He still could feel the suffocating feeling, the same that Ianto had. The feeling of Ianto's weight in his arms and the look of defeat when life left him.

"Here." Doctor pointed the screen when Jack gave Ianto the last kiss. "You gave him your last breath of life, didn't you?"

Jack wiped the tears from his face.

"I tried, but in vain." He said with a hoarse voice.

"Of course, because you were dying." Doctor stated in matter of factly and closed the video.

Jack stared at the black screen for a while feeling anger rise in his guts. Why did the Doctor have to show it to him only to state the obvious?

"Before you say anything you're going to regret, Jack. _I_ have a theory…" The Doctor started. "…but I need you to tell me a little bit more details about those last days. How was your relationship?"

"What is it with you and my relationship with Ianto?" Jack started to get annoyed now. "In my opinion it's none of your business."

Doctor sighed. This was going to take a lot longer than he had wanted. Why couldn't Jack just answer his questions? And since when Jack didn't like to talk about his conquests?

"Jack, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important." He then said with a pleading voice. "All the next alien contacts that the human race is going to have will change, and I recon, not for better if we can't fix this somehow."

Jack glanced at Amy and Rory. He had always considered his and Ianto's relationship as personal so he never really shouted it out to the world. Maybe he should've had. When he thought about it, maybe which even caused all the stupid conversations they were having about the word 'couple'. But even though Doctor had changed, he always knew he should trust the man and so he did.

"Fine." Jack spat. "Like I said, our relationship was complicated. In few short years we had gone through a lot of ups and down which I'm not starting to tell you. But the thing is, when all the children in the world started to speak in unison, we were arguing quite a lot. Stupid little things if you ask me." Jack cleared his throat. "Anyway, when the hub blew up and I was taken imprisoned, Ianto and Gwen busted me out. Or dropped me… but that's not the point. We were so busy that we had no time to talk. Next thing I know, we were inside a freezing warehouse without food, equipment or money and because of the government thought us as criminals so we became one. We stole credit cards, laptops and cars. All three of us packed inside that warehouse with no privacy or good night sleep. It wasn't very pleasant. The day when Ianto… died, I told him that I had daughter and a grandson."

Doctor looked shocked; Jack was more like him than he had ever known.

"The government had taken them imprisoned too, when they learned that. I though he wouldn't trust me anymore. I know I wouldn't trust someone who hadn't told something so big about himself. But he did and he followed me to the Thames House, only to die."

Jack stopped his monologue and waited for the Doctor to say something.

"You have a daughter and grandson?"

"Doctor." Jack warned.

"Okay, okay. So you had no privacy. Umm… so you didn't, you know… do… anything for days?" The time lord stuttered which made everyone look at him weirdly. He looked really uncomfortable at that moment.

"Do what?" Jack frowned.

"Oh, you know Jack. Any couples in relationship things."

"You mean kiss and have sex? No." Jack said without a blink of an eye.

"Okay..." The Doctor said, quickly searching the monitor again.

Amy tried to hide her giggling behind Rory's back who tried to hide his smile.

"Remind me again, Doctor, what does my sex life has to do with anything?" Jack asked and leaned to the Tardis's control panel. It was a little amusing to see the Doctor so tense, but the fact they were talking about him and Ianto made Jack irritated.

"Like I said: only a theory. So you didn't have any privacy. Not at all?" The Doctor averted Jack's gaze.

"No… well we would've had if Rhys had left when we asked him to." Jack smiled sadly when he remembered Ianto's words. "Bloody beans."

"What did you say?" Doctor now looked at Jack.

"Beans… Rhys, Gwen's husband, had bought some beans and wouldn't leave the warehouse before those were ready." Jack stood up and frowned.

"That's it! BEANS!" The Doctor yelled, making his companions jump.

"Beans? What do those have to do with anything?" Rory asked with a baffled look.

The Doctor laughed manically: "Everything!"


	2. Parking space

**The next chapter as promised! Enjoy!**

Rhys Williams was baffled. Only a couple of days ago he had gone to work like every other morning but now he was walking by a busy London street at peak time. He had parted with Gwen half an hour ago. She had gone to buy an oven, microwave and other kitchen related stuff. His job was to buy some food supplies.

Rhys entered to a tiny food store only few blocks away from where he parked his new, stolen, car. That way he didn't have to carry the bags too far but in other hand if police found the car they wouldn't know to look for him here. Gwen always managed to amaze him with her tricks. But now he had to think of something to eat. He passed shelves with meat on them and his stomach rumbled in response. Rhys was still a sensible man and went to the canned food section. He needed to think like survivors do: storable food. They had no way to know how long this situation was going to last.

"Excuse me, can I help you?"

Rhys turned to see a red haired woman standing next to him. She had a nametag on her shirt which said 'Susan'.

"No, no thanks. I… umm… just buying some stuff." Rhys nodded to her and turned towards the shelf again.

"Are you sure?" The seller, Susan, asked.

"Yes, thank you very much." Rhys replied but she still wouldn't leave. He glanced at her wearily. Maybe they had published his picture on television or something and she recognized him and now tried to delay him. "Is there a problem?"

"No, I was just wondering that such a good looking men always buy meat but here you are looking at… beans." Susan smiled at him.

Rhys smiled at her; it had been a long time since someone had praised his good looks. "Thanks, love, but I think I need something that will last for a while."

"Are you sure? Just last night I watched this documentary which said that humans can last much longer with one steak than ten cans of beans. Did you see it?" She said and nodded towards the cans he had been looking at.

"Really?" It was quite a coincidence, Rhys thought. "No I didn't see it." He had been traveling from Cardiff to London on top of potatoes, which made it quite difficult to watch television.

"I do feel like eating a juicy steak right now." He said and took a longing look towards the meat stand.

"Maybe you should. The documentary said that brains also work better if you eat proper meal after you've been in hunger for a while." Susan continued. "Isn't that right, Tom?"

Susan asked from a skinny sales man who was just walking pass them.

"You're talking about that documentary again?" The man asked as he stopped.

Rhys started to wonder that the situation was a little bit odd.

"You watched it too, didn't you? Meat does much more good to people than canned food." Susan said.

"Yes, it did say so." This Tom agreed with her.

"What was the name of that document? I've always said to my wife that meat is better to a man than salad." Rhys asked.

Both Susan and Tom went silent and glanced at each other. Rhys started to feel really uncomfortable.

"Never mind… thanks for telling me that. I'm just going to go." He slowly started to walk away from the beans and towards the meat.

Jack and the Doctor sat at dark alleyway which had a straight visual contact to the warehouse's front door. Jack had already seen himself going inside and if he remembered correctly Gwen and Rhys shouldn't be far behind.

"Why did we have to come here so early?" Doctor commented as he leaned to the wall. It was cold and wet. "I hate waiting…"

Jack sighed. It wasn't the first time in two hours that the Doctor complained about waiting. "I told you. I wanted to make sure we get here on time." Jack explained, trying hard to keep the annoyance away from his voice. "I don't trust your landing skills…"

"How rude!" Doctor gasped at Jack's comment. "We could've come here at least an hour later than we did."

"Well I guess your skills have improved." Jack said dryly. He had told Doctor the wrong time when they had parted from the crusader. He didn't want to mess this up just because Doctor parked the Tardis too late.

"It worked." Amy informed as she and Rory crept behind them.

"Wonderful!" Doctor yelped excitedly.

"Hush… here they come." Jack lifted his hand to silence him.

As he had expected Gwen drove there with Rhys close behind and they started to pack the stuff inside. Now only Ianto was missing. Jack's heart beat fast in his chest and he felt lightheaded. Still he didn't allow himself to think that things would go any differently just because Rhys didn't buy beans. But it didn't make him feel any less exited for seeing Ianto again. Even if it was only for a while and far away but just a glimpse of him would be enough.

"Should we get back to Tardis?" Rory asked. He was freezing his ass off and so was everybody else. Expect for Jack who didn't seem to notice the cold at all.

"No. I want to stay here." Jack said silently, not breaking his eye contact from the warehouse.

"And so will us." Doctor said. He wanted to stay by Jack's side. God knows what the immortal would do when he saw his old lover again. The Doctor was still amazed of how fond Jack was about that young man. He knew Jack was capable loving other people but he had never though that he would be so attached to someone else.

Jack's breath caught in his throat when he heard yet another car drive closer. Soon Ianto's sister's car drove to his sight and the man himself got out. Jack wanted to yell at him, let him know he was there but all he could do was stare: mesmerized. Ianto went to the trunk of the car and got many bags out. In one of them was Jack's new greatcoat which he still wore, always thinking about Ianto when putting it on. But the wonderful moment was soon gone when Ianto disappeared inside the warehouse. Jack felt his heart sank. All he wanted to do was to run after him, hold him, kiss him but he knew it was impossible.

"Jack? You all right?" The Doctor asked suddenly very close of him.

"Yeah." He managed to choke out. "I just… miss him."

Doctor patted his shoulder and went back to his old place, leaning on the brick wall. This wasn't his thing. Sitting and waiting but he did it for Jack. He had done so many things which he wasn't proud of when it came to the immortal. That young man, he still was quite young compared to him, had saved him so many times and he had never even thanked him, only called him wrong. But now he was able to pay him back.

"Doctor?"

Nearly two hours had passed since Ianto had gotten inside the warehouse. Gwen had left the hub to get Clement out of jail about half an hour ago.

"Yes?" Doctor turned towards Jack who for the first time looked away from the warehouse.

"If this theory of yours works…" Jack started.

"It will." Doctor simply stated.

"…_if _it works. Then I will disappear, won't I?" Jack's expression didn't even flinch when he said it.

"Yeah." The time lord whispered.

"What?" Amy breathed. "But…"

"We've changed Jack's past and when the circumstances starts to change, he will no longer exist." Doctor said calmly. "But I'm sure you knew that from the beginning?"

"I did and I just wanted to thank you." Jack came in front of him and exchanged his hand.

Doctor took it and squeezed tightly. "Oh, come on!" He suddenly pulled Jack to a bear hug.

Jack laughed a little and Doctor was happy to hear it. The man had been too gloomy for too long. Then Jack turned towards Amy and Rory, shaking their hands too. Amy's eyes were watery as she shook his hand.

"Don't worry. I've dreamed of this day for so long." Jack said. "I will return to my old self, to a life worth living for."

Jack looked at his watch. It was almost dinnertime. Suddenly he no longer saw his watch, or even his hand. The arm materialized back but he had started to disappear, slowly from the existence. He lifted his arm to salute to the Doctor and smiled a real happy smile for a very long time. Doctor saluted to him too, so did Rory and Amy.

"Goodbye, Jack. I'll see you around." Doctor said as Jack vanished.

"We better make the most of it then." Ianto said and smiled that shy smile of his.

Jack smiled back, his heart skipping a beat. It always surprised him of how well Ianto truly understood him.

"Suppose." He said back and turned towards the laptop.

"Like right now?" Ianto asked then and Jack couldn't help his smile widening.

"Ianto, the world could be ending." He turned to look at Ianto who didn't seem to put off by his comment.

"World's always ending." Ianto answered smoothly. "And I have missed that coat."

Jack couldn't keep the laugh inside himself as he turned to speak to Rhys.

"Rhys! Do you wanna take the car and go to those shops… umm… down by the Wharf? We need some disks for these things." He pointed towards the laptops. "Should take about… 20 minutes?"

"Thirty minutes." The Ianto said without looking at Jack.

"Thirty!" Jack quickly corrected.

"Right now? I've only gotten the marinade ready for the steaks." Rhys looked at them with disappointed face.

"Put those into oven, we can watch over them." Jack waved his hand, not really caring. Ianto snorted next to him.

"Fine, just remember to take them out, okay?" Rhys said as he put his coat on. "I'm going now!"

"Bye!" Jack and Ianto said in unison. A tiny click was heard from Ianto's pocket.

They sat in silence, staring at their computer screens, until they heard a car pull out and disappear to the streets. Right away they turned to look at each other and without a word they got up, one chair clattered to the floor, and met half way with passionate kiss. It was desperate and sloppy. They both had missed it like hell.

"What did you say about the coat?" Jack panted as they parted to get some oxygen.

"Don't care anymore." Ianto licked his swollen lips before pulling Jack for another kiss.

They staggered towards the couch, pulling their newly bought clothes out of their way. Jack crashed on top of Ianto who grunted in displeasure when Jack's weight made it impossible to breath. Jack quickly supported himself better and for a moment they just looked at each other's eyes, nose brushing together. Suddenly Jack felt an odd choking feeling in his throat and his heart ached. He wondered what he would do without this man, who meant so much to him. For a fracture of second he remembered how Ianto lay dying in his arms and he felt his heart breaking. The memory disappeared as quickly as it had come and Jack couldn't remember why he felt so much sorrow. He quickly pushed the thought away from his mind and kissed Ianto again, savoring the feeling. This was exactly where he was meant to be.

"Seven minutes." Ianto sighed as he checked the stopwatch.

"Hmm…" Jack hummed into his ear and pulled the man even closer.

They lay on the too tiny couch with Jack's greatcoat covering their bodies. Ianto sniffed the air.

"Do you smell something burning?" He then asked.

"Don't care." Jack mumbled and kissed Ianto's neck lazily.

"No, really, Jack. Something is burning." Ianto sat up. "Oh, shit."

Ianto wrapped Jack's coat around his waist and tiptoed to the kitchenette. He opened the oven and coughed when a dark smoke covered the air.

"I would enjoy the view more if you didn't wear that coat." Jack called after him, way too amused by the situation.

"Jack! Rhys's going to kill us." Ianto gave him a serious look.

Jack laughed and glanced at the stopwatch which lay on the floor.

"We should get dressed. Only three minutes left!" He yelped and started to look for his clothes.

"Bloody hell!"

Ianto flinched as Rhys's voice echoed in the empty warehouse.

"All the steaks! Ruined! Harkness you bloody idiot! I gave you only one job and you managed to ruin it! What the hell were you doing all this time? Sitting on your asses on your precious computers?"

The rambling went on and both Jack and Ianto tried to hide their laughing as they sat in the same positions as before Rhys had left.

"Bloody Torchwood…" Rhys mumbled as he realized neither Jack nor Ianto were paying him any attention.

"Ianto, can you try to find the pictures of the other three people who were ordered to kill at the same time as me?" Jack asked when he finally had the patience to get back to work.

"Yes, _sir_." Ianto answered, emphasizing the sir.

Jack smiled at him.

"Here you go, sir." Ianto said after a moment of searching.

Jack took a quick glance of the pictures.

"No, the pictures from forty years ago. Can you find those?" Jack came to stand behind Ianto as he did some typing. Soon three pictures of much younger people came to the screen.

Ianto examined Jack's reaction. "Do you know them?"

"Yeah… I got to go." Jack said and ran to get his coat.

"Where to?" Ianto called after him.

"I'll tell you later! Promise!" Jack shouted before disappearing.

"Buy some food while you're at it!" Rhys called after Jack but the immortal didn't hear him.


	3. Taking time

Jack walked briskly down the street. He could hear Ianto talking to the phone with his sister, but he wasn't paying any attention to the conversation. He thought of million different alternatives of how to declare the war with the 456 if it wasn't willing to surrender. One certain phrase came to his mind and he decided to go with that. They would go to a war if they had to, just like Doctor would've done.

When they were about to enter the Thames House, Jack stopped abruptly, causing Ianto to bump into his back.

"Jack, what is it?" Ianto asked and looked at his face.

Jack felt an enormous fear and sense of loss. It overwhelmed all his senses and it seemed to stretch on forever. In reality it lasted only for a couple of seconds and then it was gone, like it was never there.

Jack frowned. "Nothing… Let's go."

Ianto didn't want to go like this. He wanted to go with a bang and take the disgusting species of 456 with him. So he pointed his gun towards the glass tank.

"If there's virus, there must be an antivirus. Release it now or I'll blow a hole in that tank and we all die together." Ianto heard Jack run back by his side and pointed his gun at the same direction as well.

"You've made your point, now stop this and we can talk!" Ianto couldn't remember when had been the last time Jack had sounded so desperate. It still didn't register of why that was.

"You are dying. Even now." The 456 said with that deadpanned voice.

They looked at each other, both agreeing to it. Ianto had always wished that if he died young, he would die fighting with Jack by his side. Jack in other hand hadn't heard Ianto's conversation with the 456. He hadn't thought it through, that if they shot the tank they would all die, Ianto as well. So they pulled the trigger, but the bullets didn't even make a scratch on the glass.

A piercing scream came through the 456's speakers.

"What's that nose?" Jack looked at Ianto in confusion. "What is it doing?"

Then, like a lightning from the sky, Jack realized that they couldn't stop it and Ianto was still inside, dying. He grabbed Ianto from his shoulders.

"We need to get you out of here. I can survive anything but you can't!" He tried to get an eye contact with Ianto.

"It's too late. I've breathed the air." Ianto's voice was weak. He could feel the poison fill his lungs, numbing them. He couldn't fell his arms or legs anymore. Only the steady squeeze from Jack's hands made him feel grounded.

"There's gotta be something, there's gotta be an antidote!" Jack searched Ianto's face for answers, because the man always had those. He knew everything. But there was nothing. Ianto's eyes were only full of fear. Jack felt his stomach drop.

"You said you would fight." The 456 breathed.

"Then I take it back, alright?" Jack let go of Ianto and screamed to the tank: "I take it all back, but not him!"

Jack was pleading. He would do anything to save Ianto. He would let them take all the children if they only let Ianto live.

Jack's arms were gone. Ianto tried to take a step towards him, to be by his side, but his legs gave in and he fell. But Jack was there to catch him, like he always had been. Late, but still there.

"No! No, no, no, no, no." Jack yelled as he reached out to catch Ianto in his arms. "Ianto? No, no…"

Jack gently lowered him to the ground, not strong enough to keep Ianto upright, when the virus was circling through his body as well. Jack's heart was breaking as he finally realized Ianto was dying and there was nothing he could do. It was all his fault. He shouldn't have given the children away all those years ago. He shouldn't have let Ianto come with him to the Thames House, but he had wanted him to be there, to support him at his foolish task to try to be like the Doctor and now Ianto was dying.

"It's all my fault." He whispered to Ianto, at the same time trying to keep him awake.

"No it's not…" Ianto's voice faltered. He felt like suffocating, but he wanted Jack to know.

"Don't speak, save your breath." Jack quickly pleaded, stroking Ianto's cheek.

"I love you." Ianto's voice broke. He felt so much for the captain. Jack had gone through so much in his long life, lost so many people and now Ianto had to leave him too. He didn't want to break Jack's heart.

"Don't." Jack didn't want to say it. He loved Ianto more than anything, but he wasn't going to say it. He wanted for Ianto to save his breath, to keep fighting. Saying it would mean goodbyes and he wasn't going to let Ianto to give up.

So slowly Ianto's eyes started to close, his mind screaming for the sweat release of death.

"Ianto?" Jack said, shaking Ianto's body to keep him awake, repeating his name over again. "Ianto, stay with me. Ianto, stay with me, please."

It took so much effort to open his eyes again, but Ianto managed. Jack's trembling pleading broke his heart.

"Hey." He said, voice hoarse. "It was… good, yeah?"

Ianto tried to smile, make Jack happy again because he couldn't bear to see the man so broken.

"Yeah."

_It was more than that_. Jack thought.

"Don't forget me." Ianto hated himself for saying that. It was selfish to ask that from an immortal man who could live for centuries. But he wanted to be remembered, he wanted for Jack to remember him when the man would eventually die so if there was an afterlife he could be there waiting for him and Jack would remember him. "A thousand years' time… you won't remember me."

"Yes I will. I promise, I will." Jack chanted knowing that he could never forget.

Ianto wanted to say so much to Jack. That the man had saved him and that he would go through it all if he had the change, but he couldn't quite form those words anymore. His lungs screamed for air, but no matter how hard he tried to gasp it, they wouldn't fill. Ianto closed his eyes for the last time with Jack's broken face as his final image.

"Ianto?" Jack whispered. "Ianto? Don't go, don't leave me, please. Please, don't…"

Ianto could still hear Jack's voice, begging for him to stay, but it sounded so far away. All he wanted to do was to stay but he couldn't, not anymore.

"You will die. And tomorrow, your people will deliver the children."

Jack looked up to the 456, feeling only rage and disgust towards it. Slowly Jack lowered himself and with his last powers he kissed Ianto's lips for the last time. They were still warm against his. Jack wished nothing more to bring Ianto back and he consumed the last of his life-energy to that kiss.

"Number thirteen, fourteen." The soldier said and pointed far to the line of bodies.

For a moment Gwen just stood there. She wanted to drag the feeling of uncertainty just a little bit longer. She was also sure that her legs would give in if she tried to walk right away. So she took a deep breath and carefully started to walk towards the two bodies she had eyesight on.

It felt like eternity had gone by before Gwen finally stood in the middle of her best friends. Slowly she kneeled down and turned towards the number thirteen. So fitting for an immortal man, she thought. She pulled the red cover from his face and gave Jack a tiny smile. He had already color on his cheeks and was soon coming back. He didn't let her down.

Gwen took a deep breath before turning towards the other body. A tiny voice in her mind still told her that there was a mistake. That Ianto had managed to escape somehow and the body would be someone's she had never met. But when she pulled the cover away, that tiny voice was silenced. There was Ianto, pale and cold. Carefully she straightened his tie, like she knew Ianto would've wanted it to be: spot perfect.

Jack came back to life with a silent gasp. He still felt Ianto's presence hovering around him but it soon faded when he opened his eyes, leaving behind only a stab of realization that Ianto had died and he yet again woke up, alone. He had wanted to die with Ianto, to never wake up again, but his wish wasn't fulfilled. Jack saw Gwen sitting next to him. Slowly he sat up; terrified to turn to look at his left and see what he knew he would see. But he did and there he was, his Ianto, lying on the cold floor, dead. Quickly he looked away again before summoning all his strength to drag his body against Gwen's and hold her close. He stared at Ianto's cold body with tears in his eyes and with no strength to do or say anything. And at that very moment he gave up.

"There's nothing we can do." Gwen sobbed and started to cry.


	4. For the children

**Sorry that it's taken me so long to upload the next chapter! That's why this one is extra long for you. Enjoy!**

When Ianto Jones opened his eyes, he saw only darkness. Just like Suzie and Owen had said: there's only darkness. He didn't know how but he breathed inside the darkness and he felt pain and fear. Ianto tried to reach out but his arms wouldn't move. He felt something thick and cold against his skin. He started to panic: he screamed and moved around but no matter how hard he tried to move his arms or legs, they would still be pressed against his body. The darkness was suffocating him, squeezing him and he felt like going mad but then a blinding light opened up to him.

For a while he couldn't make out anything. There was only that light. Then he started to hear sounds and see shadows moving around him. They were people speaking or more likely shouting. At first Ianto couldn't understand what they were saying but then he realized that they were talking to him.

"Don't move! Give us your name!" A man was shouting at him, repeating it over and over again.

Ianto could see the man now and he also saw the gun was pointed towards him.

"Ianto Jones." He said with a rough voice, barely audible. "Torchwood."

The man went silent but didn't lower his gun.

"Follow me!" The second man who stood next to the other stated and waited for Ianto to get up.

Ianto stood up carefully. His head felt dizzy and every muscle on his body screamed in protest. His legs shook like an old man's and he tried so hard to remember why he was there. Then it hit him: he was dead.

"What's going on?" He croaked as he started to follow the other soldier. The one who had the gun walked behind him, barrel almost touching Ianto between his shoulder blades. "Am I dead?"

They didn't answer but Ianto could already think of the answer himself: he certainly wasn't dead, not anymore at least. Unless when people died they were sent to a gym with lots of body bags lying around. Ianto mused that he must've been inside one of those when he woke up. A shiver ran down his spine.

"Where's captain Harkness?" Ianto tried again to get the men talking but in vain. "Where _is_ Captain Jack Harkness?"

If he had come back to life, Jack shouldn't be too far away either. Or so he hoped, he didn't really have any means to know how long he had been dead.

Ianto was escorted in handcuffs through a white hallway with prison cells on both sides. Ianto was frustrated. He had no idea where Jack and Gwen were at that moment or if their plan of blackmail had worked. He couldn't go to jail before he knew where they were.

"Tell me where Jack Harkness is!" Ianto demanded and decided not to move until he got some answers.

Of course that didn't do much good cause the soldiers started to drag him forward ignoring Ianto's protests.

"Tell me where they are!"

Jack didn't know how long he had sat in that tiny prison cell. He felt only constant pain. His mind was gone to better, and now so very bittersweet, times when Ianto was alive, smiling and witty. Through all those memories the new ones still pushed through and Jack heard Ianto's last words in his ears and that scared look when Ianto knew he was going to die. Jack had no tears left to cry. He had shed them by Ianto's body after Gwen had left him alone for a while. Jack wanted to disappear, get lost on those memories and never move a muscle again.

Through his grieving he heard a voice call out his name. At first Jack thought he was imagining it. He would never again hear those Welsh vowels again. But then he heard it clearer: Ianto shouting his name behind that locked door. Jack quickly ran to the door and pressed his ear against it. He could clearly hear many footsteps approaching him. He tried to peak through the eyehole but saw only shadows move by his door. His heart pounded rapidly.

"You can't just lock me up." That was clearly Ianto's voice.

"Ianto?" Jack yelled through the door. He pressed his palms on it as if he could feel his lover's presence through it.

"Jack!" Ianto's heart jumped in joy as he heard Jack calling him.

Jack's voice caught in his throat and he didn't find any words to reply.

"Captain Harkness!" A woman's voice called from the other side of the corridor.

_Lois Habiba_, Ianto recognized her voice even though he had heard it only once.

"Get in there." One of the soldiers grunted as they pushed Ianto into the cell next to Lois's.

"Oh, sure, now you're talking." Ianto snapped at him as he opened the handcuffs.

If he wasn't overpowered and if the soldiers didn't have their guns he would've taken advantage of the situation and try to break free. But he had to settle for glaring at them and he had no desire to die again anytime soon.

As soon the door was locked, Ianto ran to it and listened carefully. Soon he heard Jack speaking.

"Ianto? Is that really you?" Jack's voice was shaky and barely audible. He still feared for his mind. That he had only imagined hearing Ianto's voice.

"Yes, it's me, sir." Ianto said, his own voice breaking too.

"But how…?"

"I don't know." Ianto quickly answered before Jack could finish his sentence.

Lois listened silently their exchange and her heart warmed. She had seen them die and was happy that they both had survived even though she didn't know how.

"Captain Harkness! Can you tell me what's going on?" She called out.

There was a moment of silence before Jack spoke: "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. There was nothing we could do."

Lois suspected he talked more to Ianto than to her.

"Where's Gwen?" Ianto asked, fearing that she or Rhys got hurt.

"They went back to Cardiff, to protect your family." Jack answered.

Before Ianto could reply to that, shouts and banging was heard outside.

"What's going on? Let me go!" Jack's voice echoed in the corridor as armed men dragged him out of his cell. He tried to fight back but it did no good.

"Jack!" Ianto tried to yell at him but there was no answer.

Fifteen minutes later, Jack found himself inside the, ah so familiar building, where he had been kept prisoned and eventually cemented. He was escorted through narrow hallways. Soon he saw his daughter and grandson, both in good health and safe.

"Uncle Jack!" Steven shouted and ran to hug him.

"Hey, soldier!" Jack tried to sound playful. "Stay with your mom, okay?"

Steven nodded and ran back to his mother's arms. Jack examined Alice's facial expressions as he was dragged past them. She didn't have that impassive look as she usually had around him, but instead she looked… proud? Jack didn't know what to make of that.

He was taken to a huge room, where were computers and all sorts of equipment he had never seen. And there was also agent Johnson and Jack were immediately on alert. Alice approached them from behind and stopped a few feet away from him.

"This should be everything you need and if it's not, we'll find it." Johnson started to speak.

"For what?" Jack asked wearily as his handcuffs were unlocked.

"Wavelengths." She answered. "The 456 is named after a wavelengths and that's got to be the key to fight it back."

"You're wasting your time." Mr. Dekker shared his opinion on the matter. "There's nothing you could do. I've analyzed those transmissions for forty years and never broke a…"

Johnson turned around shoot him to leg.

"What do you think, Captain? She told me you were good. Was she right?" Johnson asked and nodded towards Alice.

Jack looked first at Johnson and then his daughter and smiled.

"Yes, but with Ianto Jones, I'm magnificent." Jack challenged Johnson with a stern look.

Never had an half an hour felt so long in Jack's immortal life. He had started working by logging into the Torchwood software and tried to think for a way to destroy the 456. But his mind kept on going back to Ianto.

"Hey, you started without me?"

Ianto's voice filled Jack's ears and his heart jumped. He turned around and only then he let himself truly believe that Ianto Jones was back from the dead. Ianto stood by the doorway, soldiers on both side of him as if the man could escape at any minute. Jack almost ran to him, stopping only one feet away of him, not quite sure what to do or say next.

"I…" Jack started to say but Ianto interrupted him:

"I know."

Jack felt tears run down his face and without a second thought pulled Ianto into a hug. The Welshman wrapped his arms around Jack and held on tight. All the fear they both had of never seeing each other again was gone.

"Okay, that's enough! We don't have time for this." Johnson yelled at them.

Jack pulled away from Ianto but still held on his arms like the man could just disappear if he let go. He gave Ianto a quick kiss, before turning towards the computers. Only then he remembered Alice. She had been eyeing them curiously and was now staring at Jack, demanding for introductions.

Jack cleared his throat: "Alice, meet Ianto Jones, member of Torchwood. Ianto, meet Alice, my daughter."

Jack examined both of their reactions carefully. Ianto's expression didn't even flinch. He smiled politely and offered his hand on Alice: "Pleasure to meet you."

"As you." Alice said and shook his hand, looked cautious.

Jack couldn't hide a tiny smile which appeared on his face. He had never even imagined of introducing these two together. He quickly turned around and went to one of the computers.

"So… How old are you?" Alice suddenly asked and Jack's smile disappeared.

"I'm twenty-five." Ianto answered with the same smile.

"Oh, I didn't know that my father had a thing for such a young men." Alice blurted out and shot a look to her father.

Ianto didn't seem to be put off by that. "As blunt as your father, I see." He said smoothly. "Even a hundred year old would've quite an age difference with him."

"Oi!" Jack yelled at them. "Work to do!"

Both Alice and Ianto smiled and Ianto quickly ran to the other computer.

Alice had never heard her father mention that he was seeing anyone, but she knew he was interested in both sexes. She never would've thought that she would meet someone he was dating. By the looks of it, they had been together quite some time. She examined closely their working together: it was smooth and one could see that they had done it dozens of times before.

"They killed Clement somehow." Jack tried to fill Ianto in with the latest details while they worked.

"Shit." Ianto whispered. "What happened to the recording we had? Did you send it?"

Jack stopped his working. He was afraid to tell Ianto why they hadn't sent that video forward.

"No… We… um… we gave up." He eventually said.

"What do you mean?" Ianto asked.

"They killed all the people on Thames House…" Jack swallowed the lump in his throat. "…They killed you."

Jack turned to look at Ianto but instead of rejection he saw understanding.

"We should send it, even just to buy us some more time." Ianto suggested.

Jack thought about the possibility. "But the deadline is still at noon. They want all the children at the same time and if they don't, they release the virus."

"Yes, but even if it spread fast inside the Thames House, it doesn't mean that they can spread it as fast to the whole world." Ianto was silent for a while. "We need to try, Jack. Cause if we don't figure this thing out before noon then they'll take the children."

Jack mulled it over for a while. "Okay, let's do it." He agreed in the end and they got to work.

Jack edited the recordings a little shorter. They still didn't have the resources to send such a long piece of tape to every media on Earth. Ianto hacked his way to the largest media corporations on every country.

Alice walked behind her father to observe his doings. "You can do that?" She then asked and glanced at Ianto, who was typing away with a concentrated frown on his face.

"Yeah, I'm running the recording through our translation program which automatically translates it to hundred main languages on Earth." Jack answered, in his mind thanking Tosh for inventing something so big and beautiful. "Although this could've gone a lot faster if we had all the technology from the hub." He gave Johnson a judgmental look.

"I was just doing my job." She huffed back at him.

"Got it! Jack, do you have the recordings ready?" Ianto yelled from his workstation.

"Yep, sending it to you… right now."

"Aaaand… aired!" Ianto informed as he send it onward. "Now the whole world can see what the 456 is up to."

Jack laughed victoriously. "Now we need to find a way to evict the 456. They killed Clement somehow but why? Ianto? Any ideas?"

Ianto stopped to think for a while. "Maybe… the connection they had was hurting the 456 somehow. Did it have something to do with the noise we heard at the Thames House?"

Jack had almost forgotten it, for obvious reasons. "It could be. Ianto, can you find me the recording of that wavelength?"

"On it!"

Colonel Oduya stood in front of the tank. There had been silent for over a half an hour and he hated it. It felt like the 456 was looking at him through the thick smoke and glass.

"Sir!"

Oduya turned around to see one of his soldiers standing at the doorway, waving at him to come closer.

"It's Torchwood, sir." The soldier whispered when he was close enough. "They've sent the recordings to every television and radio all around the world… and with different languages."

"That's impossible! Torchwood was destroyed!" Oduya couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Apparently not… All the Unit soldiers are informing that every child's parents are fighting against them. Only couple of busses had been collected. We have fewer than ten percent of the required children."

There was a heavy silence.

"Okay… they've won. Send the orders to stop the operation." Oduya sighed.

"Yes, sir." The soldier saluted and hurried to pass on the word.

"At least we remember this day as the day, when Torchwood started the war which destroyed the human race." Colonel Oduya muttered to himself and he was going to be the first one to go when the 456 released the virus inside the building, yet again.

"Jack, come and take a look!"

Jack hurried to Ianto's side to see a video Ianto was playing. Alice followed him. She noticed how close her father stood against the other man, shoulder to shoulder.

"They're giving the children back." Alice breathed in delight when she saw civilian's footage of a buss returning to the school yard.

"Yes. They all fought back. Apparently this was the only bus which had time to leave London. All the other children are safe with their parents." Ianto explained as the video stopped.

"Excellent!" Jack patted Ianto's shoulder before running back to his post.

"Oh, and sir!" Ianto called out to Jack. "I have that wavelength you required."

"Send it over here."

"Already done that." Ianto smirked.

"So if we can just send it back to the 456, we can destroy it." Jack said after he had examined the wavelength. He didn't notice Mr. Dekker who had limped behind him.

"If you want that wave to work you're going to have to send it through a child." The man said to his ear.

Jack felt his stomach turn in disgust. "We'll find another way." He said firmly.

"What does that mean?" Johnson asked from his another side.

"There is no another way." Dekker seemed overly delighted for that. "Oh, that child's gonna _fry_."

"Stop it!" Jack shouted to him.

"We have no time." Johnson informed, fearing what may happen when they crossed the deadline. "Should we do it?"

"Dad, tell them no." Alice whispered to him.

Ianto looked at Jack: he seemed utterly conflicted and lost. Jack lifted his gaze to look at Ianto, pleading for an answer. Ianto quickly walked by his side. "Jack, listen to me, we'll find another solution."

"There's no other way." Dekker argued against him.

"Shut up!" Ianto snapped at him.

Jack looked away from Ianto who reached out to take his hand. "Jack, we _will _find another way. We just have to keep on digging."

Jack swallowed and nodded to him. "Yeah, we'll find it." He agreed and patted Ianto's hand before glancing at Alice.

She stared hard back at him, not sure if her father had considered the possibility to use Steven for real.

Ianto nodded and went back to his station. Minutes ticked by and never had he felt time move so fast. He was painfully aware that they had only fifteen minutes left. He heard the stopwatch ticking away in his pocket.

Both Jack and Ianto were searching for another solution as fast as they could. Five minutes later a thought crossed Ianto's mind and he started to search the answer from the software, not quite sure if it still was there.

"Jack! I think we could use this!"

"What?" Jack asked not even taking his eyes from his computer.

"It's the combination that Owen used to Hart, which changed his DNA." Ianto explained to him. "If we take Stevens blood and find the other components then we could use someone else's DNA to child's."

"Oh, Ianto, you're brilliant!" Jack shouted in delight. "Agent Johnson, do you think you can get us those components?" He asked and turned towards the agent.

Johnson went to Ianto and examined the list he had. "We only have a small laboratory here. There are only half of the ingredients you need." She sighed in defeat.

"Then you can send someone to get them!" Jack said, angry for her to work so slowly.

"Yes, I could, but we have no time!" Johnson snapped back at him.

"There's no other way." Jack said.

"Yes, there is." Dekker was speaking again, only now focusing his words to Johnson. Ianto rolled his eyes when he heard the man start speaking.

Mr. Dekker wasn't going to die. He had managed to survive from the Thames House and he was going to survive through another day too.

"I told you: we are not doing it!" Jack shouted at him.

"Yes, you are." Agent Johnson said.

A sound of safety catch's click made Jack look at his right. What he saw made his breath catch in his throat. Agent Johnson was pressing her gun against the back of Ianto's head.

"You. Do. It. Now." Johnson said slowly.

Ianto swallowed. He didn't want to die. Not again. Not so soon. He took deep breaths to keep himself calm.

"Put the gun down." Jack growled at her. Slowly he took couple of steps towards her.

"Stay where you are!" She shouted and pressed gun even harder against Ianto's head. "Tell me how to do it!"

"Jack, don't!" Ianto shouted and winced when she thrust the gun painfully against him.

"Okay." Jack quickly said. He would do anything to keep Ianto safe. "Okay. I'll tell it if you just put that gun away."

"Dad, no!" Alice screamed and moved towards her father.

"Don't move!" Johnson quickly pointed her gun towards Alice but Jack pulled her behind him to safety. Ianto took the opportunity to try and grab the gun from Johnson's hand. A shot rang in the air and Jack fell to the floor: gun wound on his head.

Johnson managed to yank her arm free from Ianto's hold and she pointed it towards him again. "Get away from me or I'll shoot!"

Ianto slowly backed off towards Jack and Alice. Slowly he kneeled down next to Jack and tried his pulse. There was none. He cradled Jack into his arms and waited for him to come back to life.

"You're going to tell me how to do it or I'll shoot you all." Johnson shouted in frustration.

"I know how it's done." Mr. Dekker said from the doorway where he had retreated after the gun had been taken out.

Jack gasped back to life, his vision blind and pain pulsing through his body. He reached to take hold of something and felt Ianto's steady arms around him. He was whispering something into his ears but Jack couldn't hear him.

"It's okay, you're back…" Ianto chanted.

"Bring him." Agent Johnson shouted to her subordinate who quickly ran out of the room.

"NO!" Alice's terrified scream echoed in the hall. "Steven! Run!"

Jack heard his daughters shouting. It took him too long to realize what was going on but when he did, he panicked. He tried to get up but his body was too weak.

Ianto looked from Johnson towards the door and back again. She had lowered the gun. Alice was shouting at the hallway and soon a soldier came inside, carrying Steven at his shoulder. The door was closed behind him. Ianto gently lowered exhausted Jack to the ground. Jack tried to take hold of his hand but Ianto just squeezed it once before letting go.

The soldier carried Steven towards the center of the room. When he passed Ianto the man suddenly charged towards the soldier. He managed to get hold of Steven's shoulders but then a shot was fired and he felt a sharp pain on his chest.

"Ianto!" Jack yelled, summoning all his powers to get to his knees.

The soldier wrenched Steven away from Ianto as the man fell to the cold floor, but this time Jack wasn't there to catch him. Slowly Jack crawled to Ianto and cradled him to his arms. He quickly examined his injury: blood dived Ianto's chest to red.

"Oh god, Ianto…" Jack whispered as he put pressure on to the wound, feeling the warm blood soak his hand. Ianto groaned in pain. He opened his mouth to say something but only blood poured out. A painful gasp escaped Jack's mouth.

"Ianto, please." He repeated. "I love you. You hear me? I love you, so you can't die. I can't lose you again, I just can't."

There was a ghost of smile on Ianto's face before his body went limp. His eyes stayed open, staring to empty pass Jack's shoulder. Jack hugged Ianto tightly against his chest and buried his face to the nook of his neck, silencing the sobs that escaped his mouth.

"Okay, it's all ready." Mr. Dekker's voice came behind him.

"Uncle Jack. What's happening?" Steven called out from the center of the room. Jack looked up to see his grandson standing there, looking scared. Jack's mind was blank. He didn't know what to do next, not anymore.

"Steven! Steven, run!" Alice's shout was muffled by the thick door but she kept on banging against the glass. "No!"

Before Jack could move a muscle Steven seemed to paralyze, his eyes went blank as he stared into the distance. Then slowly he opened his mouth and started to scream. Jack couldn't do anything but to stare. His heart was in pieces. The high pitched scream seemed to last on forever. Then Steven started to tremble recklessly and blood started to pour out of his nose and ears. Then it just stopped. Steven fell to the ground. Jack stared at him with a blank expression. He heard Alice run past him. She cradled Steven into her arms and cried out.

"No!" She looked at her father with pained expression. "No, no, no!"

"I'm sorry."

Jack jolted when someone spoke right behind him. He quickly turned around to see a man looking at Alice and then at him. Jack had never seen him before but still he had the feeling he knew him somewhere.

"I'm so sorry." The man said again before turning around and starting to walk away.

"No." Jack gasped, wanting to stop him.

"Doctor!" Jack shouted after him but the man kept on walking. "Doctor! Doctor!" Jack kept on screaming until the man disappeared through the door. He stopped shouting only when he heard loud couching. He turned around and gasped, quickly caressing Ianto's cheek as the younger man struggled to breathe through the blood in his mouth.

"What happened?" Ianto finally managed to ask and Jack just looked up. Ianto slowly followed his gaze and sighed. Slowly he moved away from Jack's embrace to look properly at the horrific scene before them. Alice was now crying silently against Steven's body.

"Oh no, oh god no, Jack, I'm so sorry." He murmured silently and lowered his head. It had all gone so wrong.


	5. Under the stars

**So here it is: the last part! Hope it isn't too mushy :)**

It was turning to night when they finally arrived to Cardiff. Ianto had insisted to drive Johnny's car home even when Jack had suggested that they'd take the train. The whole ride was made in silence. Jack had sat at the passenger's seat, staring out of the window, without really seeing anything. Alice had stayed behind to London. She wanted to be part of the planning to get Steven's body back to Cardiff.

Ianto parked in front of Rhiannon's house. He had talked with Gwen before they had left and told her everything that had happened.

"We're here." He said silently to Jack who just nodded. Ianto couldn't even imagine what he was going through. Gwen and Rhiannon ran from the house to the dark yard when they got up from the car. Gwen was the first to reach Ianto and she hugged him tightly.

"I thought we lost you!" She cried to his shoulder.

"No such luck." Ianto joked but his face fell when Gwen hit him on his chest.

"Idiot." She mumbled before kissing his cheek and going to Jack.

Rhiannon pulled Ianto to an awkward hug after Gwen. Ianto wasn't used to his sister hugging him, but slowly relaxed and hugged her back.

"I really thought that I lost you, you daft sod." She rambled as she pulled away from the hug.

"You scared the shit out of us!" Johnny's voice came behind Rhiannon and he gave Ianto a massive bear hug.

"Yeah, sorry." Ianto mumbled as he quickly packed away from him, straightening his suit.

"Good to see you, mate." Rhys came then and patted his shoulder.

"I put the kids to sleep after telling them that you were alright." Rhiannon said to Ianto and pointed towards the upstairs windows. "You really okay?"

"Yeah." Ianto smiled at her. "I'll explain everything to you later, okay?"

She didn't seem happy about that but nodded in agreement. They both turned to look at Jack who was smiling to Gwen, pretending to be alright even after he had just lost his grandson. Gwen fussed over him for a while before they turned towards the crowd.

"Oh, you must be Jack." Rhiannon was first to go to him and shook his hand. "I've heard lots about you."

Ianto blushed and rolled his eyes to her.

"Good things I hope." Jack said with tired voice and a fake smile.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." She then added and Jack nodded at her.

"We really should get going." Ianto said after everyone had said their condolences to Jack.

They dropped Gwen and Rhys home before going to Ianto's house. For a while they just sat there, in the car, without saying a word.

"Jack." Ianto finally broke the silence, wanting the older man to look at him.

Jack lifted his gaze from his hands to Ianto who gave him a tiny smile.

"Let's go home." Ianto then said and Jack smiled, a very tiny but genuine smile, in agreement.

When they lay together at Ianto's… their, dark bedroom, all the exhaustion from the previous days came washing over them. Ianto's flat had been a disaster; all his stuff had been thrown around, even the bed had been ripped from its duvets. But Ianto didn't have the energy to clean everything up; it had taken all of his energy just to put the new sheets on while Jack was in the shower. After Ianto had taken his long needed shower and crawled into bed, Jack had pulled him as close as possible and placed his head on to Ianto's chest. It was still tender to touch but Ianto didn't complain. Jack had listen Ianto's steady heartbeat and felt the rise and fall of his chest. It brought him comfort and assurance that Ianto was still there. No matter what had happened. Ianto was still there.

Six months later:

Jack leaned on the railing of the plass. There was hardly any sign of the explosion but he knew that under the ground there were dozens of people bustling around, building the hub back to its former glory.

"You okay?" Ianto asked next to him. Jack turned to look at him and smiled.

"Yeah, it's good to know that the hub's getting ready faster than I expected." Jack felt his life coming back together, peace by peace. Steven's funeral had been the most awful ceremony Jack had ever been in, but he had managed with Ianto and Gwen by his side.

"Yeah, the queen has an odd power to get construction workers stay on schedule." Ianto joked and Jack laughed to him. It felt good to hear Jack laugh again, Ianto thought.

"Here you go!" Gwen chirped as she came between them with three take away cups from Starbuck's. "Two black coffees for you and tea with milk to me." She said as she handed over the cups.

"Are you sure you can do such a dangerous job at your condition?" Jack grinned at her and Gwen laughed.

"Think about it: the coffee might fall on your lap." Ianto said sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up you two. Rhys's only being cautious, no need to mock him." Gwen scolded them. She sighed in happiness when she sipped her tea and listened Jack's and Ianto's conversation with each other. She was glad that her boys were slowly getting back to normal. That all their lives were getting back to normal, although the coffee was still from Starbuck's.

"How did the visit to Rhiannon's go?" Gwen then asked and examined their reactions closely.

Ianto blushed bright red and Jack tried not to smile.

"I take it went well." Gwen quickly said.

"Yes, absolutely." Ianto mumbled and took a long gulp from his coffee even though it was still way too hot to drink.

"There's just one thing I don't understand." Gwen continued and Jack turned to look at her. "How did Ianto came back to life." She looked back and forth between the two.

Jack and Ianto had been avoiding the subject as well. They were sure that neither of them knew the answer to that, so they hadn't talked about it. Rhiannon had thought that Gwen had just misunderstood Ianto being dead and that she never had actually seen his corpse.

"We don't know." Jack finally answered, not knowing what to make out of Ianto's resurrections. "Wait, can you hear that?" Jack suddenly asked.

Both Ianto and Gwen looked at each other.

"No… what…?" Jack silenced Ianto with a hush.

"That's got to be." Jack grinned, jumped over the railing and started to run towards the newly build water tower.

Only then Ianto and Gwen made out a distant whooshing noise. Quickly they drank the last of their drinks and ran after Jack or in Gwen's case wobbled.

The Tardis stood on its regular place next to the water tower. Jack stopped in front of it and waited for the Doctor to come out. He heard footsteps stop behind him and felt Ianto's calm presence. Jack glanced at him and Ianto looked back at him. Gwen was still far away but walked as fast she could with Rhys behind her with take away bags of Chinese in both hands, looking worried.

Jack turned around when he heard the familiar creak from the police box's door. The Doctor stood there with a wide smile on his face.

"Hello, Jack. Good to see you." Doctor greeted him as he stepped outside the Tardis before turning towards Ianto. "You too, Ianto Jones."

"My pleasure." Ianto answered and bowed his head a little.

"Oh, and Gwen Cooper and let me guess: the father of the baby!" Doctor exclaimed when Gwen finally reached them.

"Who's this?" Gwen asked, looking wearily at the oddly behaving man.

"He's the Doctor." Jack answered.

"But… I remembered that you looked… different." She said with wide eyes.

"Regenerated, long story, but it's nice to meet you again." Doctor grinned and turned to look inside the Tardis from where Amy and Rory soon appeared.

Amy looked a little teary and immediately went to hug Jack who looked a little surprised.

"I'm so sorry." She sobbed against his shoulder. It had been only few minutes ago when the Doctor had told them that Jack's grandson died to save the other children. Rory said his condolences too.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save him." The Doctor apologized again. "It was something that had to happen."

Jack just nodded. He understood Doctor but he could never forgive him for not saving Steven.

"You must be Ianto." Amy's sad face turned to smile when she saw the suited man next to Jack. "I've heard so much about you."

"Um… Yes, I am." Ianto said and shook her hand, a little stunned that she knew his name when he had never met her before.

"And here's Gwen Cooper and her husband." The Doctor waved towards the couple.

"Rhys." Rhys said loudly and everyone turned to look at him. "It's Rhys… Rhys Williams." He continued, annoyed that the weird man didn't even ask his name.

"Of course, Rhys Williams!" The Doctor stated to Amy and Rory. "Now that you all know each other, I think it's time for my explanation part."

The Doctor then turned towards Ianto, who immediately felt like he wanted to disappear, uncomfortable about the attention.

"You must've been thinking why you're still alive?"

"Actually no, I tend to come back to life all the time." Ianto said sarcastically but when the Doctor didn't seem to get it he continued: "…yes, I've been wondering."

"Okay." The Doctor smiled and clapped his hands together. "Well, it's quite simple: when you've been living under the rift for almost your whole life and when you're… connected to Jack, you can come back from death."

There was a silence.

"How… exactly?" Ianto frowned. According to that theory everyone who had worked for Torchwood would've been immortals, including Tosh and Owen.

"Well, at first it was only a theory, but it turned out to be right. Jack kind of… accidently gives away his life energy." Doctor put his hands on his pockets and smiled to Jack who just stared back at him.

"That doesn't make any sense." Jack contradicted to Doctor. "I can always tell when I give my life energy to someone."

"Yes, when you're totally… aware of your surroundings." Doctor agreed to him.

"What? So I somehow transfer the energy when I'm sleeping or something?" Jack tried to understand the vague explanation.

"No, no… you do that when you two…" The Doctor pointed between Jack and Ianto. "…are together. Doing… what couples do."

Ianto pondered Doctor's words for a while. "So every time we have sex, Jack… accidently makes me immortal?" He summed it up carefully.

"Yes…" Doctor simply stated. "Although the effect of the… that… is only temporal, so if you don't… um… do it… for a long time and you happen to die, then you probably don't have the energy to recover."

Gwen, Amy and Rory all started to laugh to the Doctors rubbish attempt to explain sex's effect on the two men. Jack just stared at the Doctor with a blank expression. Ianto glanced at the captain, wanting to know what the immortal was thinking.

"But why me?" Ianto then asked, still not quite sure how only him of all Jack's previous sex partners was the one to come back to life.

"I don't know for sure but I think that Jack does that to everyone. Not necessarily quite as powerfully as to you." The Doctor tried to explain but Ianto looked a little lost. "Jack's feeling for you must be quite strong so he gives away his life energy to you in much bigger scale than to others, or that's what I think."

"Have I been aging normally?" Ianto had been with Jack only for a few years so he hadn't really had as much time to notice if he was getting older or not.

"I don't think so, but only time will tell." The Doctor turned to look at Jack, waiting for the immortal to say something, but when he didn't Doctor turned towards the Tardis. "Free tour for everyone!"

Amy and Rory followed Doctor inside. "We can't possibly fit in there." Rhys argued when Gwen dragged him inside from his arm. "I've always wanted to see this!" She said, exited like a little kid.

When Ianto stepped towards the Tardis, Jack took hold of his arm, stopping him.

"I'm sorry." Jack whispered. He looked like the world had just ended.

Ianto frowned at him. "For what?"

_"__Bloody hell!" _Rhys's voice came from inside the Tardis.

_"__It's bigger from the inside!" _Gwen was the next to speak.

"I… I didn't know. I would never wish this on anyone." Jack looked pass Ianto with sad eyes. "…least on you." He then fixed his gaze to Ianto's, fearing that the younger man would avert his gaze.

"It's not like you did that on purpose." Ianto gave him a tiny smile. He wasn't sure why he talked at past tense. "Besides… If the affection doesn't last very long, then you can always… let me go."

Ianto hadn't meant it to come out as a challenge but it slipped from his tongue before he could think it through. Jack had that affection on him sometimes. For a second Ianto was sure Jack would turn him down, saying that it would be better that way.

Jack just stared at Ianto, searching his face for something, before opening his mouth: "I'm afraid I can't…"

Ianto felt his heart skip a beat and before he knew it, he was kissing Jack passionately. Jack took hold of his neck, deepening the kiss.

"Oi! You two!"

They parted to look at the Tardis. Gwen stood by the door with a wide smile on her face.

"Come inside! The Doctor said he would take us to a ride. I can't believe I'm going to travel on a time machine!" She retreated inside.

Jack and Ianto looked at each other and smiled at the same time.

"If you please, Mr. Jones…" Jack said with a glimmer in his eyes and offered his hand to Ianto. "…I would like to show you the stars."

"Gladly." Ianto said and took his hand, letting Jack guide him inside the Tardis.

It was dark when the group stepped outside the Tardis. Ianto felt steel under his shoes and when he looked ahead he saw that they were on some kind of large platform which seemed to go on forever. But it was only when he looked up that his mouth opened to a silent gasp. There was only space above them with stars shining brightly and he was sure that he saw one planet too.

"We are really in outer space…" Gwen whispered in wonder. Rhys whistled and laughed beside her.

"Amazing! Banana boat would never believe this!" He said as he wrapped his arm around his wife.

"We're aboard of the Panonpoe, right?" Jack asked from the Doctor who nodded at him.

"What's that?" Ianto asked, not taking his eyes away from the stars.

"It's the universe's biggest crusader ship." The Doctor answered. "We are standing on its deck. There's a thin glass between us and the space, which doesn't give any reflections as you can see."

It had been only couple of days since Amy and Rory last saw the crusader but they were still as mesmerized about its beauty. Last time the deck had been crowded with aliens but now there were only few other living creatures on the other side of the deck. Suddenly they could hear a silent music playing around them.

"Oh! It's the midnight dance!" Doctor said in delight. "That's why there so few beings in here. Believe it or not but not many aliens like to dance. Expect for me, I love it! Well, with certain creatures… The crusaders invented the midnight dance just for humans."

"Can I have this dance?" Rory bowed to Amy who smiled and they retreated a little farther away to dance.

Rhys and Gwen joined them soon after. "We never dance anymore." Gwen complained as they started to sway under the starlight.

"Whose fault is that?" Rhys joked to her but Gwen frowned at him.

"Shut it. Let's just enjoy it while we can." She kissed him and they leaned as close as her growing belly let them.

Ianto looked at them with a smile on his face. It was peaceful and so not what he had expected the space to be. The rift had always spitted the most disgusting things that the universe had to offer on them so he really hadn't been able to see what was out there even when Jack had told him all those wonderful stories about it.

"May I have this dance?"

Ianto turned around to look at Jack who had opened his arms for invitation. He smiled shyly before giving him a tiny nod and walking to Jack's embrace. The Doctor leaned against the Tardis and watched the three couples dance. A ghost of smile lingered on his face as his mind took him back to the time when he had last danced.

"This takes me back." Jack whispered to Ianto's ear, reminiscing as well.

"Where?" Ianto asked, sure that Jack was going to tell about one of his travels years back.

"To Gwen's wedding." Jack answered, surprising Ianto. "You were so nervous." He then laughed.

"I was not." Ianto argued against him.

"Don't even try. I saw you take some liquid courage before you came ask me to dance." Jack teased him.

Ianto blushed and tried to hide his embarrassment to Jack's shoulder. For a moment they both pretended to be a normal couple below the starlight sky.

They stayed aboard the crusader through the night before returning to Earth, for the team's disappointment a week later than they had left. Gwen was pissed off about it for days because her due date had been delayed by a whole week.


End file.
